Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Presented by
David J. Gall
Gall Aerospace
David@Gall.com
www.PropellerDesignWorkshop.com
PROPELLER DESIGN
WORKSHOP
Propeller Design Methods
Propeller Aerodynamics
Concept
There are two things above all else that I
wanted you to learn from yesterdays forum:
Goldsteins function does for propellers what
elliptical loading does for wings - efficiency
Caveat: Different for each advance ratio and number of
blades
History
The development of propeller design
methods has mirrored the technologies of
the day
19th c.: Scientific method still in infancy
Helmholtz Theory of Vorticity
Foundation of Hydrodynamics and Aerodynamics
History
Early 20th c.: Experiment and Analysis
Scientific method flourished in experiment
Eiffel wind tunnel investigation of wings and airfoils
Lesley & Durand tests of model propellers
See the book What Engineers Know and How They Know It
History
Early 20th c.: Experiment and Analysis
Analysis flourished in academia and research
institutes
Lanchester: Concepts of vortex flow and circulation
Prandtl: Quantified Lanchesters description
Gave us the concepts of downwash and induced drag
History
The rest of the 20th century.
Airplane propeller theory all but stopped
in 1948
A smattering of papers on
Theodorsenss Theory
Larrabees wonderful works (Glauert rehashed)
Some stuff on hub effects and ducted
fans
Propeller Design Methods
History
The rest of the 20th century.
Marine propeller theory did not stop in 1948
1952, Lerbs: Non-uniform radial inflow velocity
Larrabees similar-appearing radially-graded
momentum theory is like Lerbs theory in the same
way a Yugo was like a real car
PROPELLER DESIGN
METHODS
Propeller Design Methods
1. Conventional and
Computer Design
Methods.
What is the desired output?
Desired Output
Full-size template at each 'X radius station
of:
Pressure-side (thrust face) including datum
Suction-side (camber face) including datum
Profiles modified to account for thickness of
subsequent laminations (glass, carbon, etc.)
X could be linear inches or percent radius
2. Spreadsheets
I havent been able to get Excel to do
native iteration
Neither have I been able to get it to
integrate or interpolate using splines or
other non-linear interpolation schemes
Thats why I havent used my cell phone
(Excel)
3. Helical pitch
Better to use NACA TN-212, available
as:
Design and Build Your Own
Propeller by Fred Weick, Sport
Aviation, December 1960
If youre an EAA member it is free to
download from the magazine archive
3. Helical pitch
4. Graphical Layout
5. Propellers of "Standard
Form"
6. Analytic Methods
Archaic; obsolete
7. Computer Design
Methods
Blade-element theory + momentum
(classical)
Vortex-lattice lifting line theory (Kerwin, et seq.)
Some lit. on corrections for blade curvature
7. Computer Design
Methods
Larrabees method is technically a bladeelement method + momentum theory
Larrabee laments that a lifting-line theory of
the propeller does not exist
I guess Larrabee hadnt read Kerwin!
It doesnt matter because at the design point
the two will give nearly identical results
And were only using it for design at that
point
Propeller Design Methods
7. Computer Design
Methods
Helice With Dr. Susan French
Commercial version of Larrabees
method for wind turbines
Q-Prop Dr. Marc Drela with Dr.
Larrabee
Xrotor Dr. Marc Drela
DFDC Ducted Fan Design Code
Sorry, my internet is down so I cant
fact-check this morning
Propeller Design Methods
7. Computer Design
Methods
Dr. Martin Hepperles JavaProp
Does Adkins and Liebecks version of Larrabee
Doesnt do the hub correctly (tapers to
nothing)
Doesnt do Theodorsen
7. Computer Design
Methods
NISA Software (free evaluation version)
Alibre Design (low-cost full 3D like
SolidWorks)
Google Sketch-Up
MatLab, Octave
Mathcad, Mathematica, (TK! Solver)
NIST Handbook of Mathematical Functions
Java, Processing, SmallBasic, GNU tools, Mac
WolframAlpha.com
Propeller Design Methods
7. Computer Design
Methods
Larrabees method as implemented here
is actually the algorithm from Design of
Optimum Propellers by Adkins & Liebeck,
published in Journal of Propulsion and
Power, Vol. 10, No. 5, Sept.-Oct. 1994
As modified by David J. Gall to include
Theodorsens theory (abridged)
And to include physical (structural)
constraints
Propeller Design Methods
7. Computer Design
Methods
Additional Guidance from The
Aerodynamics of Propellers by
Quentin R. Wald, Progress in
Aerospace Sciences 42 (2006) 85128
An excellent article, well worth the
$35 from www.ScienceDirect.com
7. Computer Design
Methods
Wake occurs ahead of airplanes as well
as behind them it influences inflow to
the prop
The wake adaptation algorithm used here
is an implementation of a method given in
Influence of Fuselage on Propeller
Design by Theodor Troller, translated
from the original German and published as
NACA Technical Memorandum No. 492
(replete with typos!!)
Propeller Design Methods
7. Computer Design
Methods
Based on work by Fuhrmann before WWI
This work was immensely important in
reconciling theoretical and practical
aerodynamics
It solved dAlemberts Paradox
(complaint)
It showed that the parasite drag is the sum
of the (theoretically calculated) pressure
drag, the skin friction drag, and the BL wake
drag
Propeller Design Methods
7. Computer Design
Methods
Trollers body wake adaptation algorithm
employs von Karmans adaptation of
Prandtls line distribution of Rankines
source-sink method to approximate a
body of revolution
This is probably the first instance of CFD
that worked, yet its a footnote in history
Lets talk about spinners and inlets and
outlets
Propeller Design Methods
8. Ellippse Propellers
8. Ellippse Propellers
Arbitrarily forces an elliptical lift distribution
from tip-to-tip (across the hub) without
regard for the reversal of circulation across
the hub
Arbitrarily imposes an elliptical distribution
vs. solving for the shape of the distribution
curve as a function of the Betz condition
Ignores the fundamental importance and the
overarching achievement of Goldsteins work
Propeller Design Methods
9. Carter Propellers
Apparently designed using the idea
that the aft-ward acceleration of air
should be constant along the blade,
vs. Betz condition of aft-ward
velocity being constant
Static thrust measurement is not
adequate to predict in-flight
performance
Propeller Design Methods